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BLADES??? My gods man! Why subject yourself to that much harmful (not to mention just plain unpleasant) dust??? SHEARS!!!! the only way to go!!!! I’ve ripped a mile of Hardie plank with shears and I feel it’s the only way to go. I even one time tried to mount the shears upside down and make a makeshift “table saw” type thingy with them for ripping a lot of facia, but whereas it ripped the stock pretty straight, it was really time consuming to figure out and cobble together.
Just snap lines and go for it! but use the shears, your lungs will thank you for it.
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I just used a 5-1/2 inch circular saw with a combo carbide tipped blade. Worked great but watch out for the dust. Now I need a new blade. I just put a 2x12x12 across a couple of saw horses and adjusted the blade depth to match the number of planks I was cutting at one time. I did pre-drill the end nail holes - they just looked too close to the end for comfort. That ate up a couple of bits (dulled fast) but worked easy.
Painted it with an exterior latex (Behr premium from you know where) that promised to cover in one coat. The siding was primed white and the paint was orange/red to simulate stained cedar (or the color of the dirt in my neck of the woods). It did it with one coat.
*What's with the expensive diamond blades? I recently installed Hardie-plank on my house using 1 $5 carbide blade in an old Craftsman circular saw with no problems. I agree with Jim, after breaking off the corner of the very 1st plank, I decided to pre-drill the end nail holes.
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I am going to use hardie for my eave boards and facias. I have about 370' of it to rip. What is the best type of saw and blade to do the trick? I have been searching all the old posts and I like the idea of using a shear for the cross cuts, I'll check into that. I have seen three blades mentioned in the old posts: Hitachi's Hardie blade, Marathon, and Dewalt. Which works best for you guys and will that dust burn up my good saw? Should I use a junker? Thanks for input
Sylvan.
*Use an old saw...and a diamond rim blade, not the ones that have teeth. Dusty but easy to deal with by the time ya do one complete home...I just prefered to keep it simple and hold my breath until I walked out of the dust cloud...Any other method was not as simple or more effective.near the stream with shears for sale,aj
*Hi Sylvan, this may be of interest.cutting hardie
*Jim....We tried every idea out there and found the ideas listed in that article all to be expensive and slow...I use a chop box and cut several pieces at a time...I rip with a circle saw...I also use a knife and just snapped pieces...The shears that cut curves are real handy if you have tons to do...If not then there are lots of alternatives...carbide grit jigsaw blades and even being smart with a circle saw...the toothed blades were terrible...the big manual shear is slow and not accurate and did I say slow...All in all I think the article was very different than my experience,near the stream,aj
*Sylvan,About a year ago I posted the same question. This was before all the specialized blades and saws hit the market. AJ recommended a diamond blade and that is what we used. I have no regrets. We cut up a plallet' worth of 1/4" soffit material and cross cut and bias cut a lot of 5/16" and 7/16" siding and facia. The blade was cutting just as good at the end as when we started. Cost about $80 bucks. If you live in a place with more than one store you should be able to get one for less.Steve
*all of the diamond blades with no teeth say they are for wet use only. I have found several segmented rim diamond blades, MK makes a 10" for $149 (which might work nice in my little table saw) I bought a Dewalt 7" dry/wet this morning for $57 which I will probably use unless you guys change my mind.
*Sylvan....You are wrong...Continuous rim blades are what I use and only recommend...I am looking at my Lowes book and have a MK catalog somewhere hereee...DeWalt Continuous rim blade for dry cutting is model number DW4702 price $58 catalog Lowes. grinder size also...Ten inch from MK cost me $80 from local industrial supply of mine.Continuous rimmed and dry cutting near the stream,ajGo take another look at your blade Sylvan.
*BLADES??? My gods man! Why subject yourself to that much harmful (not to mention just plain unpleasant) dust??? SHEARS!!!! the only way to go!!!! I've ripped a mile of Hardie plank with shears and I feel it's the only way to go. I even one time tried to mount the shears upside down and make a makeshift "table saw" type thingy with them for ripping a lot of facia, but whereas it ripped the stock pretty straight, it was really time consuming to figure out and cobble together. Just snap lines and go for it! but use the shears, your lungs will thank you for it.
*aJ just puts the neighbors downwind. :)
*For a one time job a blade may be the cost effective way to go. I have no experience with shears but I am inclined to think that cutting with a blade will be faster than repeatedly repositioning the material and/or the shears to make long cuts. The dust can be managed.